Who the hell should I vote for. Trying to read/watch as much coverage as possible, but totally lost. What's the general consensus?

Don't vote it only encourages them .Seriously does anyone really notice being better or worse off under different governments?The promise of a couple of hundred quid a year is sod all who really notices the difference of such a small amount?

Can of worms anyone?

Firstly you need to know what is happening in your seat – if its a sfe seat for any party then it doesn't really matter. If it is a marginal seat then it could matter so long as you vote for one of the two parties who might win ( 3 way marginals are very rare)

Tactical voting is good – vote for the party most likely to beat he incumbent party if you don't like them.

As for does anyone notice the difference – I do – working for the NHS it is so much better than it was pre 97.

TJ what do you do ?what makes your life better ,is it the pay or the way things get done now?

Don't vote it only encourages them

that's what they're counting on.

As PeterPoddy said in another thread, people died so we could vote. Don't throw it away.

Question you have to ask yourself if you're not a "dyed-in-the-wool" voter: is your current MP standing for re-election? And if so, do you want him/her to carry on doing what he/she has been doing? If so, then you vote for the current MP; if not, vote for somebody else.

It might or might not make a difference in the scheme of things, but you're guaranteed NOT voting will NOT make any difference

I am a nurse – pay is one part of it but so is seeing and using far better facilities and equipment. Staff morale is higher, quality of care is improved.

I mainly work with the elderly. One example would be we use hoists to help move people. in 97 there would be 2 of these in a ward of 30 people – both manual. Now there will be 4 or more of better design that are more versatile and are electric. This reduces the risks to the staff of injury and makes it easier to provide care. Sit to stand hoist were new in 97 and rare – now common.

Many other examples.

Ours is grasping Tory David Heathcoat Amory Who claimed for horse shit for his garden and is a euro sceptic but claims euro money for his Scottish estate!Trying to get him to do anything locally is a nightmare .I tried to get him to help hurry up the Wells to Cheddar cycle path but keep getting lame responses via his office

TJ that's good what else would you get done for the NHS if asked by your MP?

pay is one part of it but so is seeing and using far better facilities and equipment. Staff morale is higher, quality of care is improved

give it 18 months of whatever colour the next govt is, TJ

TJ do you think that the hoist that were new in 1997 wouldn't have been supplied had we had a different Government in power?

TJ do not forget you live in scotland and we the british tax payer sponsors scottish nhs beyond what we get south of the border

Mastiles – yes they would have done – but slower and less of them. I remebre shinking budgets for my ward pre 97 each year I had 3% less to spend. Hoists cost stupid amounts of money.

There is no doubt of Labours attempts to improve the NHS and increasing funding is a part of this. There are other driving forces than politics but having worked in the NHS since 1978 it is very clear to me that under tory governments the NHS is starved of funds and under labour it is not.

Saladdodger – yawn – that old canard without a shed of truth again – can't you come up with something new, original and true?

Ours is grasping Tory David Heathcoat Amory Who claimed for horse shit for his garden and is a euro sceptic but claims euro money for his Scottish estate!Trying to get him to do anything locally is a nightmare .I tried to get him to help hurry up the Wells to Cheddar cycle path but keep getting lame responses via his office

so vote against* him. Do nothing and he'll get in again

* probably too late to stand against him, but you'll know what you have to do next time 😉

Well you assume that would be the case based on previous experience. In my experience of the NHS under Labour things have been worse than when we last had a Tory Government due to service cuts.

Ok TJ you are right you pay

http://www.infoscotland.com/prescriptions/

I think that says £3 if I am not mistaken

we pay

http://www.nhs.uk/NHSEngland/Healthcosts/Pages/Prescriptioncosts.aspx

Yes £7.20

So who is telling the truth

Saladdodger – yawn – that old canard without a shed of truth again – can't you come up with something new, original and true?

Er the answer is yes

we the british tax payer sponsors scottish nhs beyond what we get south of the border

is however complete bollox as you well know – or should do

Mastlies – such as?

TJ

when in the bottom of a hole stop digging

I am not the one sputing bollox – you are!

If you had any understanding of the issues you would know this

Fact1) – Scotland is a net contributor to the UK economy.

fact2) – Scotland has a fixed sum to spend – and decides its priorities democratically – spending more in one area means spending less in another.

Fact3) – you are spouting utter bollox.

spare spade anyone ???

check the links

Can you not read – yes Scottish prescriptions are lower – BUT THIS IS AT NO COST TO THE UK ( NOT BRITISH) TAXPAYER!

when in the bottom of a hole stop digging

Says the man who has been completely unable to prove that it's the "British" taxpayer who is subsidising the Scottish NHS.

The £4.20 difference in prescription charges doesn't prove anything, apart from the fact that there's a difference 🙄

There are all the same but vote for the other one for another ride.

Usually after 3-4 terms in govt they become god.

😆

when in the bottom of a hole SHOUT for help 😆

When a tosser won't listen to the truth ignore him.

You really have no idea what you are talking about do you saladdodger

Bye

saladdodger – Member

spare spade anyone ???

I think we should hit you over the head with a spade saladdodger, and then bury you.

You irritating little bigot.

Result eh 😉

New Labour may have put more hoists in hospitals, but their support of an illegal invasion of Iraq that according to conservative UN estimates has killed nigh on 84,000 people as a direct result automatically disqualify them from receiving a PJM vote in the next (or indeed any) election.

Not to mention their unfortunate habitual misleading and lying to the electorate, the obsession with monitoring our every move and their abandoning a 1998 pledge to help provide comprehensive and reasonably priced public transport.

I don't think that a Tory government is the right way to go for Britain right now, but New Labour have ruined it for all of us.

New Labour have ruined it for all of us.

Some people have done very well.

South Pavilion in Wotton Underwood, Tony Blair's sixth home :

Obviously the New Labour/Blair Rich Project wasn't quite the failure some might imagine.

We have a two party system (we pretend otherwise).

Our national politics has, for the last 20-30 years worked on the ice cream seller principle. You know the one: a long beach full of sunbathers equally spread along its length has two ice cream sellers, the first equidistant between the right-hand edge and the centre, and the other equidistant between the left-hand edge and the centre. Each has equal market share but, if one moves towards the centre, he increases his market share, forcing the other to move towards the centre.

Our two main parties are desperately trying to occupy the same place in the centre of the beach.

Mastlies – such as?

Ante Natal class that was meant to be four 2 hour sessions cut to two 2 hour sessions – but they didn't announce this until the beginning of the second session so they crammed 6 hours worth of lessons into 2 hours.

Free parking for parents of children in special care cut (so we had 8 full days parking to pay for in order to be with our girls)

The senior nurse of SCBU (who happened to be an old acquaintance from school) told us that budget cut after budget cut was stretching them to the very limit.

Later stay overnight (one of the girls having breathing problems so she was being monitored) saw staffing levels again stretched to the limit – meds that were meant to have been administered weren't (until repeated requests by my wife finally got us heard). The nurse admitted they were struggling to keep up. The 2am check wasn't made (my wife didn't sleep so knows this to be 100% the case) but the nurses later updated the records to show it had been made.

Mastiles – what hospital?

Free parking is not s service – its a perk.

I bet that the budget has not been cut – just not increased as much as the nurse wanted. Staffing – Again I bet that the staffing never dropped below the levels laid down as defining minimum levels. I have heard both things – budget cuts and staffing shortages many many times but they are almost never actually true this past decade – its just that they are not as high as the staff want. Demand is infinite. Budgets are capped.

So tell me what hospital please

i live in a Lib-Dem safe seat; Nick clegg will win again whoever i vote for (or not).

my first response to this situation is simply to not bother voting, but that's a little defeatist and negative.

so, i'll be doing some homework, and looking for a candidate who deserves my vote and will appreciate it – it may be the case that the greens(or whoever) are close to losing/keeping their candidate deposit.

i may not know if i want the greens to win, but i do know i don't want them to lose any money – my vote might make a difference.

or, i may not want underdog-candidateX to win, but if i think their voice should be heard and considered, my 1 vote might make some small difference…

(i can dream)

it may be the case that after my homework, i decide that Nick Clegg absolutely has to win in order to keep out someone else, he seems like a well-intentioned pillock, but that's about as good as you can hope for in a politician.

Harrogate Hospital.

Re the parking – it doesn't matter if it was a 'perk'. They stopped providing it to make money – in this case from the parents of newborns in special care. I am merely pointing out why, in my experience, things aren't really improving.

Regarding minimum staffing levels – I have no idea whether they were over or under minimum levels but the fact the staff were struggling meant care was being compromised. Would you be happy knowing that you had forgotten to give a patient their meds because staffing levels meant you were rushing and making elementary mistakes?

Yet your children are both conceived and alive? courtesy of the NHS even if you had to pay for the fertility treatment.

Yet your children are both conceived and alive? courtesy of the NHS even if you had to pay for the fertility treatment.

They are alive so I shouldn't have any reason to question any claimed improvements in the service the NHS provides?
😕

even if you had to pay for the fertility treatment.

Which is, of course, a whole different argument. Our PCT said it would start to provide it again on 1 April 2010. On 31 March 2010 they announced it was being delayed. Again.

To go back to the OP, I think the consensus generally is that most people are fed up of the current lot, but not massively keen on the other lot.

They are all different shades but still smell of sh*t.

At the end of the day you're basing your choices on historical performance and predictions of future – not exactly a sound way forward (though I can't think of any better at the moment). If they HAD to fulfil their pledges instead of just making them I'd be more inclined to take notice. If they didn't just back out of things and U turn continuously I'd be more inclined to select an ideal party.

Things may improve or fall with any party, depending on the available cash and world economy, claiming one is responsible either way is a little odd – sure their policies make some differences, but only trim the overall direction of things generally.

Show me a world where pledges/policies are legally binding and not weaseled into something less effective (advertising standards anyone?) and I'll vote with more confidence.

Thats about the truth of it porterclough

MF – foundation hospital so I cannot get the budget data easily.
I would bet my years salery tho that the scbu has had year on year budget increases.